Machine for combing cotton, wool, and the like



Dec. 15, 1925' 1.565.647

J. HORRIDGE MACHINE FOR COMBING COTTON, WOOL, AND THE LIKE Filed April 16, 1924 FNVENTO R; Jarvws Horrv'dqe ATTORNEY.

Patented Dec. 15, 1925.

UNITED S ATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES HORRIDGE, OF BOLTON, ENGLAND, ASSIGNOR TO JOHN HETHERINGTON AND SONS LIMITED, OF MANCHESTER, ENGLAND.

MACHINE FOR COMBIN G COTTON, \VOOL, AND, THE LIKE.

Application filed April 16, 1924. Serial No. 706,806.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMas Honnmcn, a subject of the King of Great Britain, residing'at Bolton, in the county of Lancaster, England, have invented new and useful Improvements in Machines for combing Cotton, Wool, and the like, of which the'following is a specification," 7

The invention relates to improvements in machines for combing cotton, wool and the like, and has for its object to provide means whereby the combed lap of cotton may be more satisfactorily Consolidated as it leaves the machine, said consolidating means permitting the use of a smaller comb cylinder than heretofore.

In the specification of my application for Letters Patent Serial No. 636,817, filed May 5, 1923, I described mechanism for imparting a partial forward rotation and a partial backward rotation to the front detaching rollers and a continuous forward rotation to the back detaching rollers.

In 'ombing machines it has been customary to employ two pairs of detaching rollers and 1am aware that means have been employed to effect the piecing of the tufts in that pair of rollers furthest removed from the nippers. This method, however, has been found to be unsatisfactory in that the combed tuft of cotton or the. like is insufiiciently consolidated so that it becomes uneven or puckered at the delivery end of the machine.

I remedy this defect by employing an additional pair of detaching rollers after the usual back detaching rollers, and these extra detaching rollers have imparted thereto by gearing such as that described in my said application hereinbefore referred to a partial forward and reverse rotation in a similar manner to the middle rollers. Thus the tufts of cotton are efliciently consolidated and supported after they are pieced so that they are delivered from the extra pair of rollers in a perfectly even manner, the piecing being effected by the middle pair of rollers.

In the drawings accompanying and forming part of this specification- Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic sectional side view of the detaching rollers and comb cylinder of a combing machine constructed in accordance with thepresent invention; and

Fig. 2 is a broken away plan view of the bottom detaching roller are designated 8 and 9 respectively, both of which rollers 8 and 9 receive a partialforward and reverse rotation from the shaft 10 by the mechanism described in the specification of my prior application hereinbefore referred to.

Leather covered rollers 6 8 and 9 work in conjunction with the bottom rollers 6, 8 and 9 respectively and are driven by frictional contact therewith.

The path of the cotton is indicated at 11, said cotton being illustrated in the act of being combed by the top comb immediately previous to the piecing operation, while the backing off? operation has just been completed. It will be seen that this last mentioned operation does not take place in any proximity to the comb cylinder and it is by reason of this fact that I am enabled to employ a comb cylinder of much smaller diameter than customary.

In combing machines employing only two pairs of detaching rollers backing off takes place against the face of the comb cylinder and piecing between the first and second pairs of rollers. If a smaller cylinder than customary were used, the cotton would be caught by the needles of the cylinder during the backing ofi operation and carried away with the Waste cotton.

In the machine herein described, however, backing off occurs between the first and second pair of rollers counting from the nippers and piecing on the second pair, the third pair being used to consolidate the lap. This mechanism enables a comb cylinder of much smaller diameter to be employed; that is to say, one having a smaller plain surface on its periphery than heretofore, inasmuch as it is unnecessary to back off against the face of the cylinder.

It has been customary to employ a cylinder of approximately 5 to 6 inches in diameter. The gear above referred to is designed to drive the detaching rollers in such manner that it is possible to employ a comb cylinder of considerably smaller diameter for example, 3 inches, and the arrangement of said gear is such that said cylinder and consequently the machine itself may be driven thereby at a higher rate of speed than is usual. The comb segment is of the usual length of periphery and the waste surface of the cylinder is reduced to a minimum.

The effect of this arrangement is such that although the. cylinder rotates at a higher rate 'of speed the surface speed of said cylinder and therefore the rate of travel of the needles through the cotton owing to the re duced diameter thereof will not be increased beyond that of the largest cylinder which is now usual.

hat I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. In a combing machine, the con'ibination of a pair of nippers, three pairsof detaching rollers disposed in parallelism with said nippers, means for imparting to the pair of rollers nearest the nippers a continuous forward rotary motion, and means for imparting to both of the remaining pairs a partial forward and reverse motion, whereby the piecing operation is effected in the middle pair of rollers.

2. In a combing machine, the combination of a pair of nippers, three pairs of detaching rollers disposed in parallelism with said nippers, means for imparting to the pair of rollers nearest the nippers a continuous forward rotary motion, means for imparting to both of the remaining pairs a partial forward and reverse motion, whereby the piecing operation is effected in the middle pair of rollers, a. comb cylinder of approximately three inches diameter, and means for driving said cylinder at such speed that the needles of the comb segment will travel at the usual rate of speed.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

JAMES I-IORRIDGE. 

